1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to electrical connectors, and more particularly to an electrical connector having an improved shell to ensure a good signal transmission quality.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Personal computer manufactures utilize RJ45 and Universal Serial Bus (USB) connector in various combination in their desktop, laptop and related computer product. But those separate components each has its own housing and structural and requires relative more space, thus integration of RJ45 and USB is demanded in computer design.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,183,292, issued on Feb. 6, 2001 and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, discloses a conventional shielded modular jack. The modular jack has a dielectric frame, a daughter board having a RJ45 connector and a transformer mounted thereon, a staked USB connector, and a first and second shields enclosing the frame and the daughter board. The USB connector has a grounding shell mounted on a rear portion thereof. The frame has a horizontal partitioner and a vertical partitioner separating an interior space of the frame into a first and second spaces. The RJ45 and the USB connector are respectively received in the first and second spaces. However, as the modular jack includes the first and second shields and the rear shield attached to the USB connector to prevent EMI (Electromagnetic Interference), such a structure militates against a simple assembling process and a low cost.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,162,089, issued on Dec. 19, 2000 and assigned to Costello et al., discloses a stacked LAN connector. The connector comprises a main body, a modular jack, a USB, a rear shield disposed between the modular jack and the USB, and an integral shield enclosing the main body, the modular jack and the USB. However, the rear shield and the integral shield are separably manufactured and assembled to the main body, which adds the complexity of process of producing and assembling.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,531,612, issued on Jul. 2, 1996 and assigned to Goodall et al., discloses a multi-port modular jack assembly. The modular jack comprises a first and second rows of modular jacks mounted within a common main housing surrounded by external shielding. The first and lower rows are in a substantially mirror-image disposition, a mid-shield is positioned between the first and second rows of the modular jacks for reducing cross-talk interference therebetween. The mid-shield has a first plate portion received in a slot defined in the main housing and a second plate portion abutting the rear face of the main housing. However, in assembly process, the mid-shield is inserted into the slot first and the external shielding is assembled to the main housing thereafter, thus a simplified assembly process is not easily achieved.
Hence, an improved connector is needed to eliminate the above mentioned defects of the conventional connectors.
The object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector having a better shell shielding from electromagnetic interference (EMI) and suppressing cross-talk therebetween.
An electrical connector of a preferred embodiment of the present invention has an insulative main housing, a pair of light emitting devices (LEDs), a subassembly assembled to the main housing, a stacked Universal Serial Bus connector (USB), a plastic part assembled to the subassembly, and a metal shell. The main housing has a partitioner dividing an interior space thereof into a first and second receiving cavities. The partitioner defines a channel extending therethrough in a horizontal direction. The metal shell has a top wall, a pair of side walls and a front wall. The front wall has a beam section and a shielding plate extending rearwardly from and substantially perpendicularly to the beam section. The shielding plate is received in the channel of the main housing.